Wolfgang Rihm on Dutch music cuts

Radio Interview

The coalition agreement of the new Dutch cabinet includes the statement that the Netherlands Broadcasting Music Center (MCO) is to be scrapped, bringing with it the closure of three orchestras and a choir.

At the Donaueschingen Music Festival, Wolfgang Rihm spoke to the Dutch radio about the cuts:

“It is alarming to hear this news, as we all admire the musical culture of the Netherlands, and it is always astonishing to hear that of all people it is the conservative politicians who above all destroy cultural value. You would think that a Conservative would want to preserve something … When something is gone, it’s gone.

You can destroy an evolved structure, a mesh, a fabric, but it can never again be brought back to its former glory – that is, unless you have just as many years again. It is so short-sighted to scrap institutions and their performers in such a way for such a relatively modest amount of money.